Small businesses contacted the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) nearly 5000 times in the second half of 2017, up from 3700 in the preceding six months, according to a new report. The ACCC’s latest Small business in focus report, covering July to December 2017, shows small businesses made 2365 enquiries to the Commission along […]
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) will conduct an inquiry into the effect digital platforms such as Facebook and Google are having on competition in media and advertising services markets. ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said the commission will examine whether digital search engines, social media platforms and other digital content aggregation platforms are exercising […]
A survey of 1280 SME operators has found that nearly half (49.6%) had relied on unfair contract terms legislation, implemented last year, to negotiate fairer terms with big businesses during the past six months. Conducted by East & Partners, the SME Transaction Banking survey also showed that nearly four in five respondents (78.2%) were aware […]
The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) says its only at the ‘tip of the iceberg’ in terms of its efforts to ensure small businesses are not subject to unfair contract terms. Since 12 November last year, when unfair contract terms laws were extended to small business contracts, the ACCC has taken successful court action […]
The Federal Court has found that accommodation provider Meriton engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct by implementing a strategy to minimise the number of negative reviews its guests posted on the TripAdvisor website. In November 2016, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) instituted proceedings against Meriton in the Federal Court, alleging that between November […]
Telstra will compensate around 42,000 customers after advising the ACCC that the maximum speeds promised by some of its National Broadband Network (NBN) plans could not be achieved in real-world conditions. Between September 2015 and November 2017, Telstra advertising a range of NBN speed plans including one that offered maximum download speeds of up to […]
Reforms to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, which took effect this week, will level the playing field between small and big businesses while providing consumers with increased choice and better services in the market place, according to Small Business Michael McCormack. Commenting on the commencement of the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Competition Policy Review) […]
Eight terms in the standard form contract used by JJ Richards & Sons to engage small businesses have been deemed unfair, and therefore void under Australian Consumer Law (ACL), by the Federal Court, this week. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) instituted Federal Court proceedings against waste management giant, last month. It alleged […]
Rising electricity costs over the past decade are a “drain on business productivity,” according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s inquiry into the national electricity market. The commission’s preliminary report into retail electricity pricing highlights concerns about the operation of the National Electricity Market, which pose an “electricity affordability problem” for consumers and businesses. […]
All businesses across Australia are now banned from hitting customers with excessive surcharges for using certain types of EFTPOS, Mastercard, Visa and American Express cards to make payments. The excessive surcharging ban has applied to large businesses since September last year and now extends to all businesses that are either based in Australia or use […]
